Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

2019

Date of Submission

2021-08-03

Advisor

Dr. Faiza Mushtaq, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Abstract

Women in Pakistan face many challenges when seeking sexual and reproductive healthcare. They are mistreated and misdiagnosed, and their concerns are dismissed by doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals in general. Their pain and complaints are not taken seriously, and they are reduced to passive objects, expected to perform certain sexual and reproductive functions, such as bearing children.

This thesis explores the attitudes of sexual and reproductive healthcare providers towards women, and the difficulties women face due to the behaviour of healthcare providers towards them. Women’s intersecting identities, such as marital status, body types, mental health, sexuality and sexual activity affect the quality of care they receive. However, women are agential despite all the discrimination and prejudice they have to contend with. They are constantly trying to seek better sexual and reproductive healthcare.

I interviewed twelve educated, middle-class, unmarried young women in Pakistan. This was followed by transcription and analysis of the interviews in order to identify the challenges women face when accessing healthcare, and how they overcome them.

While we may expect educated, middle-class, and urban young women to have easy access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, this is clearly not the case, according to the experiences of many women. It is thus important to document the kinds of problems these women face when seeking help for their health-related concerns, and to understand why these problems persist.

Pages

69

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